Speaking to Total Politics magazine for a feature on the state of the regional press, Fisher said the government did not take his paper seriously, even though it outsells The Sun in the region.

“There are four Labour seats in the area I cover, all of which are vulnerable, and you might assume that a Labour government would show more interest,” he said.

“When they do give us coverage we get press releases. The words ‘West Midlands’ are deleted and ‘East Anglia’ inserted, but other than that the press release is exactly the same. They think this is regional coverage.”